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It has been almost six months since my last post on Bonfire Night Bride and my, how things have changed. When I decided to put my blog to bed I did so with a view to concentrate on the last minute preparations for our wedding and simply being able to enjoy the month before our big day without having to worry about the blog. I have to be honest, no longer blogging was a huge weight off my shoulders and being able to spend more time with Tom was lovely, just what we needed. After all, you only experience the run up to your wedding day once!

As many of you will already know, our wedding went with huge success and it was featured on the fabulous Brides Up North and So You’re Getting Married blogs. I had lots of support from Julia (Brides Up North) and Phoebe (So You’re Getting Married) throughout my wedding planning which was lovely and so it was an honour to grace their pages of prettiness.

My favourite wedding photo

I won’t write much about the wedding as you can read all about it on Brides Up North but I will say that I surprised myself at how laid back I was about it all. The majority of things went to plan which is amazing and the things that didn’t, didn’t matter in the end. Our favours were eaten by mice in the castle the night before the wedding (fortunately the little buggers left just enough for each lady to have one, the men had to go without!), we forgot the sparklers and our florist was late THEN we couldn’t use most of our flowers, including my bouquet, as our florist omitted to tell us that the eucalyptus leaves would leak bright red dye(!!) but in the grand scheme of things I didn’t care. We were married and that’s all that mattered.

Getting on for five months after our wedding I have to say that being a Mrs is still weird. Hearing Tom refer to me as his wife – weird. Signing a completely different signature – weird and something I still haven’t mastered. I have only managed to change my name with my main bank and my GP purely because changing things is hassle and I’m all about an easy life. I even travelled to Spain earlier this month in my maiden name. Let’s face it, in this day and age who has a spare £77 to change a passport?! Daylight robbery.

The Honeymoon

Now the honeymoon, something I’ve been meaning to blog about since we arrived home, was out of this world. We crossed the Atlantic from Southampton to New York on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, the epitome of luxury. The crossing took a week and it was the perfect excuse to do pretty much nothing for seven days – just what you need after the stress of a wedding. We ate (and must have gained around a stone in weight), drank, slept and treat ourselves to time in the spa – having a massage on a moving ship is a very strange experience! The one thing that I was hoping for throughout the week was to see dolphins, it’s something I mentioned every day and I think Tom got a bit sick of hearing about it. On our last full day however, Tom and I were playing scrabble on the 2nd deck, as you do on your honeymoon, when I saw two little grey fins approach the window that I was sitting next to. DOLPHINS!! I was alone in my joy as Tom had left me, probably to go and bring us some more food, but I was like a five year old at Christmas. It was as if their display of jumps and spins was just for me as they scurried away just before Tom arrived back at our table. I’ll assure you I wasn’t hallucinating! This was magical and made my week.

Enjoying champagne as we wait to set sail

Sailing into Brooklyn past the Statue of Liberty, a once in lifetime experience for us, was breathtaking. New York City is a favourite place of ours and after spending a year at university it New York State it holds an extra special place in my heart. A home from home. We stayed downtown at the trendy Soho Grand where it’s much quieter and you can escape all of the hustle and bustle of the busier uptown areas of Manhattan. We have done the tourist things previously so we didn’t want to spend too much time on those although we did visit the Top of the Rock as Tom hadn’t done this before. The views were spectacular, like looking over a Lego city below. As we were uptown, after the Rockerfella Building we went for an eyeful of the Tiffany’s holiday windows, it would have been rude not to! We ate premium steak at Keen’s Steakhouse (divine) and took advantage of breakfast at The Cupping Room, conveniently across the road from our hotel! We also paid a visit to the talented Sarah Schor at Kings Avenue Tattoo for some cheeky honeymoon ink, something that we had been planning for a while to the horror of my mum and we drank cocktails at Soho House, a private members club in an old warehouse in the Meatpacking District.

Breakfast at The Cupping Room

Taken on an evening walk across The Brooklyn Bridge

Top of the Rock

Tiffany's Holiday Windows

Before returning home we hopped on a train from NYC for a two day stay in Boston, somewhere Tom had always wanted to go. As it was Thanksgiving over in the U.S, Boston was very quiet but that suited us! Staying at the lovely Nine Zero hotel on Boston Common we were in a pretty central location, although Boston isn’t actually that big. We ate (once again), watched The Muppets and went on a Duck Tour which we loved!

A Duck!

Quincy Market

Freedom Trail (excuse the hair!)

Since Returning Home

We returned home from our honeymoon to the run up to Christmas, it was all go with preparations and present shopping and it gave us something to look forward to rather than feeling glum about the end of our wedding celebrations. Although I LOVE Christmas and tend to go ‘all out,’ this Christmas was naturally going to be a little bit overshadowed by the truely spectacular wedding and honeymoon that we had just experienced. What on earth could live up to that?! Well… I will tell you.

I had been feeling a little bit ‘funny’ since our honeymoon. It wasn’t something that I could put my finger on, just a feeling in my stomach that something wasn’t normal. I did have a feeling what it COULD be though and on 14th December my feeling was confirmed. After a Tesco ‘big shop’ (so very glamorous) I took a pregnancy test which was positive! EEEEEEEEEKKKK!

I sauntered through into the living room, as laid back as always, where Tom was watching TV. “Tom,” I said calmly, “I think we’re going to be a mummy and daddy.” This was music to Tom’s ears. We hugged, teary eyed and ecstatic. We were planning on starting a family straight after our wedding but we didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. Going by my dates it seems that I fell pregnant three days into our honeymoon! When the ship’s a rocking…

The next step was – what do I do about telling people? Due to the nature of my job in a mental health hospital I had no choice but to tell my manager which was very hard as I had suffered a miscarriage in 2008 so instinctively there were reservations about telling people before our first scan. Fortunately my manager was great. I was whisked off to an office away from patient contact and we came up with the excuse that “my back was buggered.” Then came the dilemma of telling my parents. At only 6 weeks pregnant we decided that we would tell our parents sooner rather than later. After all, we didn’t think it was fair that my colleagues knew but my parents didn’t and as my mum, Tom and I all work for the same NHS Trust with the same people we would have hated my parents to find out that I was having my first baby via hearsay at work.

So, the arrival of Christmas Eve gave us the green light to spill the beans. We had planned to tell my parents in the morning then travel over to Wakefield to tell Tom’s mum which is exactly what we did.

We wrapped up some bibs for my parents and as Tom’s mum is the driver of a 2 seater sports car we took her an Auto Trader. Obviously our parents twigged straight away when they opened their little gift, much to their delight. Mum cried, dad congratulated us followed by Tom announcing “he shoots, he scores.” Yeah, thanks for that Tom. Tom’s mum took a little bit longer to understand what we were trying to say, looking at her latest issue of Auto Trader with a puzzled face. When we gave her a little nudge by telling her she’s going to need a new car she got it with a gasp and hug! Our amazing news made Christmas a lot more special for everybody than we have ever imagined.

So today, at 19 weeks pregnant I still can’t believe it. I have been trying to get my head around the fact that I’m going to have to go through birth in five months time. I have been sick most days, some days violently (nice). I’ve had quite a lot of time off work and have been suffering from terrible head, back and leg aches. All in all I’ve been having a pretty miserable time but I do not hold anything against the little person growing in my belly. Saying that is as weird as hearing myself being referred to as a “wife.” We are so unbelievably excited however, only having two speeds – slow and stop, I have not yet looked into anything ‘baby’ other than prams.

We have settled on the Joolz Day Expedition which might not look as pretty as the traditional style prams but it does amazing things!

With a Labrador, a baby and a pram there isn’t going to be much room to move in our car so we wanted something small, light and easy to use which this is. Who’d’ve thought I’d be talking about prams six months ago when I posted my last post on Bonfire Night Bride?! I certainly didn’t. The only other baby related thing that we have is the moses basket. We are using the basket that my mum was bought for my eldest brother almost 37 years ago. It was then passed down through the family, used for both of my brothers and myself and then for my gorgeous nephew who is now two. It’s touching to be able to use something so sentimental that can now be called a family heirloom.

We have no idea about names or how we’re going to decorate the nursery, both of these things we haven’t made a start on yet. We don’t have a clue about sterilizers, bottles or what we need to do to prepare for having a baby but we have our next scan on 11th April where hopefully we will see that everything is ok and we will know whether it’s a little boy or girl in there. This will give us a kick up the backside to get cracking with all things baby!

So here we are. The past few months have been a huge turning point in our lives – evolving from newly weds to the prospect of being new parents in the space of a few weeks. But, it has to be said, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

I have to admit that I have a real soft spot for Carolyn Scott’s work. Her weddings and engagement shoots are everything that Bonfire Night Bride is about – colourful, fun and full of love and it is for this reason that I did a little dance inside when Lori & Hassan’s stunning September 4th, 2011 wedding in Outer Banks (North Carolina) landed in my inbox! It is just exquisite.

It is with regret that Lori & Hassan’s wedding will be my last post on Bonfire Night Bride – I am undecided as to whether I am going to carry on my blog after my own wedding but I may pop up every now and again if I see something that would be rude not to share! 🙂 I am honoured and extremely grateful to go out with such an amazing real wedding from a photographer that is not only amazing at what she does but also a beautiful person. I cannot thank you enough Carolyn!

We weren’t really supposed to shoot this wedding initially, but we were sure glad it happened that way!

I did Lori and Hassan’s engagement pictures in January, which, at this point, seems like eternities ago. Her engagement session inquiry email to me stated, “We’re planning a destination wedding and will most likely pick a local photographer there for the big day.” That’s totally cool and happens a lot. So I went about taking engagement pictures for them in downtown Raleigh on the coldest winter morning ever! I remember shaking, I remember Wrigley, their adorable dog, shaking, but them being very good sports. Well, low and behold, they received their engagement pictures back and decided to book Geoff and me for their Outer Banks wedding. We were super excited, thankful, and honored.

Since their engagement, I’ve photographed their dog Wrigley and Lori’s bridal portraits and feel like I know them quite well. I wasn’t nervous, they weren’t nervous, and the whole wedding was smooth sailing at the Outer Banks. Well, we were slightly nervous the week before when Hurricane Irene hit the coast and flooded their reception venue under 4 feet of water. But the town of Manteo did a fantastic job of cleaning up, and 108 Budleigh looked brand new. It was heart wrenching to see the damage done to some of the areas on the drive in (both structure damage and crop damage). But all in all, Roanoke Island fared quite well… much better than expected… and the houses had little to no outside damage. Thankfully, it was all very beautiful on their wedding weekend and everyone was thankful. Lori and Hassan enjoyed their beautiful Outer Banks wedding and we were so happy to be there with them to celebrate.

The lighting in these photographs is amazing! Lori & Hassan you make such a sweet couple and I wish you all the happiness in the world for your future together. Lori you were a beautiful bride! I adore your sparkler send off, something we’re planning to end our night with at at our own wedding.

Adorable photography from Indianapolis, Indiana husband and wife team Bobbi and Mike here. The fact that their website plays Barry Louis Polisar’s ‘All I Want is You’ just makes me smile from ear to ear. When I saw Emily & Matt’s June 4th wedding I just HAD to share it for so many reasons. You’ll soon see why!

The wedding party got ready in this old house, their ceremony was on the lawn, and their reception was in a tent attached to a barn built in 1837 (then moved to this location in 1914).

These two were so cute walking down the aisle. They kept trying not to cry by laughing. Then the second they both got to the front and could no longer laugh and the tears started flowing.

Not long after this photo was taken… this happened! This is part of the catering staff rushing food into the barn.

Then, a little break in the downpour…

What started as wind and rain turned out to be a tornado with 90mph winds which ripped off the band doors!

We immediately needed to get all 300 guests into the barn, the barn that was built in 1837! Literally minutes after everyone went into the barn the tent collapsed! Right after the tent came down, I looked out the window and saw one of the rented carnival kiddie rides in the air.

And THEN two firemen came to make sure everyone was safe.

Notice on the right side of the barn – that was where the barn doors were that flew off but how did the wreath, hanging on by a NAIL, not get touched?!

It was at that point that Emily and Matt decided to call off the rest of their reception and the guests started leaving.

It was only immediate family and best friends that stayed. As they were giving their toasts, Mike asked Margaret (the mother of the bride) what their first dance song was. He told me what it was and I downloaded the song onto my iPhone, someone pulled up their car that had an iPhone jack, and badaboom badabing, their first dance!

There was NO way that anything could have ruined this day, not even 90 mph winds! Even as the tent fell down, Emily laughed. I mean, what else is there TO do? The limo arrived early to take the happy couple to their hotel.

And just like that their wedding day had come to an end. It ended as perfectly as it could have.

The bride and groom with a very soggy Bobbi and Mike!

A successful wedding but a disasterous day from Mother Nature! I just love that even though the worst scenario possible happened, the bride and groom were still smiling throughout. That must be the sign of a really easy going, fun loving couple and it’s definitely going to be a story to tell the grandchildren! Real troopers – if we were getting married in the US I’d certainly know who to call upon for our wedding photography. If you would like to see more from Bobbi & Mike you can visit their blog here 🙂